Notable Gang Related Stories of 2011
We at GATE America, wanted to review some notable incidents that occurred across the Nation involving street gang activity. These gang related stories were only selected becasue of the particular nature of the story, the political impact, or the implications that the incident has on dealing with the gang phenomenon. We wish all a safe and happy new year.
January 25, 2011 - Modesto, CA - Three gang members were charged with the Robbery and Murder of three people, including the two store owners a husband and wife and their developmentally disable 28 year old daughter. The three gang members aged 18, 16 and 15 have all been charged as adults.
January 25, 2011 - Modesto, CA - Three gang members were charged with the Robbery and Murder of three people, including the two store owners a husband and wife and their developmentally disable 28 year old daughter. The three gang members aged 18, 16 and 15 have all been charged as adults.
According to court documents, the shootings stemmed from a burglary of the V&V Oriental Market on Tuesday. Store owners Vanh Thammavongsa and his wife, Phouvieng, were killed.
According to news reports "the defendants of "lying in wait" to kill the family". The victims were a family who had fled war-torn Laos 30 years ago, were known for their strong work ethic and had never been the victims of a serious crime before. The incident occurred in broad daylight, on a busy afternoon with pedestrains and children in the area.
Police officials have sent the defiant officers back to regular patrol duties and expect that it will take several months to rebuild the gang units with others willing to abide by the policy, which requires officers to periodically submit information regarding their assets and debts. Until then, patrol officers have been saddled with trying to keep up with gang-suppression efforts, a move some gang unit supervisors and community advocates fear could lead to an erosion of expertise and hard-fought gains in reducing gang violence and crime.
April 17, 2011 Sarasota, FL - James Cooper, 25, and James Kouzaris, 24, were in Florida when they were killed at 3am in a gangland area rarely visited by tourists. Reports indicated that they had accepted a lift from someone they met in a bar, thinking they were being driven home. The murder was committed by 16 yoa Shawn Tyson. The British tourists bodies were found riddled with bullets on a one-way street in the estate, known for drug dealing and gang activity. Police are investigating the theory that the pair spent the night bar hopping in Sarasota. Investigators believed they believed they were being driven the 12 miles to the resort of Longboat Key. Instead, they were taken to Newtown, Sarasota, where they were confronted by a gang of masked men. Reports indicate that both men were running away when they were shot. Their bodies were found 50 ft apart. They still had money on them and police found no evidence to suggest they had been wanting to buy drugs. Captain Paul Sutton said police were looking at the possibility of more arrests. He said: “More than one person ran when shots were fired.”
A police source said the two friends did not have their own transport, “so they were brought to this location”. He said: “Someone could have called ahead and people were waiting for them.” Sonja Seymour, 31, of Newtown, said: “I heard that when they arrived here there were already some people waiting for them. They were wearing masks. The men ran away and they were shot. I saw one of them lying in the street on his back.”
Police said the 16-year-old boy, charged with double murder, was believed to live with his mother in the housing estate. He had been charged with aggravated assault after shots were fired in an attempted robbery two weeks prior.
The pair met at Sheffield University and became firm friends. Mr Cooper, who graduated in economics and business management, had gone to stay with his parents, Stan and Sandra, at Longboat Key in an apartment. Mr Kouzaris, a keen runner, cyclist and rugby player, had spent several months travelling around South America.
June 20, 2011 Trenton, NJ - The alleged leader of the Trenton Nine Trey Gangsters who participated in a 2005 clash between three rival gangs that left three people dead pleaded guilty yesterday to a weapons charge, the state Office of the Attorney General announced today.
July 14, 2011 - OAKLAND, CA — Two suspected gang members pleaded not guilty on September 12, 2011 to special circumstances murder charges for allegedly brutally beating a 21-year-old Union City woman to death two months ago and then dumping her body in an upscale Oakland neighborhood and setting it on fire.
Authorities have declined to disclose the suspected motive for the murder of Monica Rodas, who was the mother of a 2-year-old boy, but said suspects Salvador Valasco, 22, and Hector Garcia, 31, apparently were upset with her about something and wanted to send a message to the community not to mess with them.
Rodas’ body was found around 4:40 a.m. on July 14 in the 5800 block of Ivanhoe Road in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood, near a state Highway 24 off-ramp.
Valasco and Garcia are both charged with committing a murder during the course of a kidnapping, desecrating human remains and evading police officers.
Garcia is also charged with two counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and of having six prior felony convictions, an allegation that could add to his prison sentence if he is convicted.
His prior convictions include evading an officer, possession of a firearm by a felon, receiving stolen property, car theft and possession of a controlled substance.
The special circumstances allegations mean that Valasco and Garcia could face the death penalty if they are convicted. Prosecutors won’t make a decision on seeking the death penalty until after their preliminary hearing, which will determine if there’s enough evidence to have them stand trial. That hearing won’t take place until late this year or early next year. Valasco and Garcia were arrested by Oakland police on July 19 after a brief foot chase.
According to a probable cause statement filed in court by Oakland police Sgts. Steve Nowak and Sean Fleming, Garcia denied any knowledge of the crime but Valasco admitted his involvement and said he bound Rodas’ hands, gagged her mouth and put a sweater over her. Valasco said Garcia threatened to burn Rodas with a blowtorch and slapped her, according to the statement. Witnesses said Garcia kicked Rodas while she was bound and gagged, the court document said. Valasco and Garcia then walked Rodas to a car, put her in the trunk and drove her to another location, where she was killed, the police investigators said. The two then drove the victim's body to a second location, where they dumped and burned it, according to the statement.
The money will be used to buy equipment for the King County sheriff's gang unit and reopen the sheriff's White Center storefront; pay for three King County deputy prosecutors and a paralegal to build cases against gang members; and fund programs aimed at intervening in the lives of young Latino mothers and at-risk youth.Programs will roll out over the next six weeks with the one-time funding, said Constantine, flanked by County Council members, King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg and King County sheriff's Chief Deputy Steve Strachan.
"We know we can't arrest our way out of this problem," Constantine said, adding that programs such as education and job training represent "investments in proven solutions."
Councilmember Julia Patterson, a lifelong resident of South King County, said gang violence is increasing along the Highway 99 corridor.
Police in a dozen South King County communities, along with sheriff's deputies who patrol unincorporated areas, have been working collaboratively after the July 23 gunfight between rival gang members at a Kent car show that wounded 12 people. Later that night, a thirteenth person was wounded in what police have called a retaliatory shooting.
Patterson noted that one in five Latino residents in South King County lives below the federal poverty line and that teen pregnancy rates are higher than in other parts of the county. For instance, Burien has a teen pregnancy rate of nearly 27 births per 1,000 girls ages 15 to 17, a number that is 16 times greater than in the Issaquah-Sammamish area.
October 21, 2011 - Chicago, IL - The reputed No. 2 leader for the Latin Kings was sentenced Friday to 40 years in federal prison for ordering violence in the street gang’s Little Village stronghold.
The sentence will run concurrently with a 20-year prison term already being served by Fernando King for a narcotics-related offense.
King asked U.S. District Judge Charles Norgle for leniency and contended he was trying to distance himself from the Latin Kings and establish his own business at the time of his arrest.
In court, King's elderly mother and youngest sister submitted written statements saying that King was kind and generous to his family. At several times during the hearing, King's mother became emotional and wiped tears from her eyes.
In sentencing King, Norgle said he had not accepted responsibility for the violence he helped cultivate in Little Village
October 7, 2011 - Elgin, IL - An Elgin man police say is a known gang member has been charged and ordered held without bail in the shooting death of 5-year-old Eric Galarza Jr.
Miguel Hernandez Jr. was charged Friday with first-degree murder after he allegedly shot Galarza Jr. on Oct. 7. Elgin Police Chief Jeff Swoboda said in a statement, as reported by the Chicago Tribune, that the investigation into the shooting was greatly helped by the northwest suburban village's community.
"The Elgin community provided multiple leads that helped lead to this arrest," Swoboda said. "Within one week, Elgin's gang unit has been able to arrest and charge the man responsible for this tragic incident."
Galarza Jr. was shot in the head while sitting in the back seat of his family's car as it backed out of the driveway of his family's Elgin home,
October 21, 2011, Washington, DC - The National Gang Intelligence Center released its 2011 National Gang Threat Assessment which indicated that there were 1.4 million gang members, with 33,000 gangs national wide. Please not that they FBI pulled down the report after only being available for a few weeks.
There are approximately 1.4 million active street, prison, and outlaw motorcycle gang members in more than 33,000 gangs operating in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. (Those numbers reflect an increase from 2009 figures, due primarily to more comprehensive reporting from law enforcement and enhanced gang recruiting efforts.) - Gangs are responsible for an average of 48 percent of violent crime in most jurisdictions and up to 90 percent in several others.
- Gangs are increasingly engaging in non-traditional gang-related crimes like alien smuggling, human trafficking, and prostitution, as well as white-collar crimes like counterfeiting, identity theft, and mortgage fraud….primarily due to the high profitability and much lower visibility and risk of detection and punishment than drug and weapons trafficking.
- Gang members are acquiring high-powered, military-style weapons and equipment, which poses a significant threat because of the potential to engage in lethal encounters with law enforcement and citizens alike.
- Gangs are becoming increasingly adaptable and sophisticated, employing new and advanced technology—including social networking websites—to carry out criminal activity discreetly and connect with other gang members, criminal organizations, and potential recruits around the country and around the world.
November, 2011 - Chicago, IL - The U.S. Attorney’s Office of Northern Indiana on Friday announced the indictment of 19 members of the Latin Kings street gang, as well as Chicago police officers Alex Guerrero and Antonio Martinez Jr., for committing armed robberies on behalf of the notorious Latin Kings street gang.
rero’s and Martinez’s alleged involvement are most troubling, officials say, because they used their badges and, in some cases, their full Chicago police uniforms.
“These men are alleged to have used their statuses as police officers to commit various illegal acts at the direction of Latin King leaders,” U.S. Attorney for Northern Indiana David Capp said at a Friday afternoon press conference at his office in Hammond, Indiana. “The indictment alleges that often while wearing their badge and or utilizing their police-issued vehicle or police-issued weapon.” Read the entire story here.
December 2011- Chicago, IL - Chicago Magazine published an article title "Gangs and Politicians in Chicago: An Unholy Alliance" This article is an exceptionally well written well researched article on the links and connnections that street gangs have with political leaders. Included in this article are how politicians need street gangs and their support in order to get elected or even re-elected. This artciel which the link is is an excellent perspective on the issues facing Chicago and the Police Department. Including how Alderman influence criminal investigations and the types of enforcement that occur.The these notable gang related stories were selected based upon the particular nature of the incident reported. The incidents represent a cross section of issues facing communities and law enforcement. They were not selected to be considered a top ten list. Bo
Comments